Taven Epps

Physical Profile

The frame is the separator. At nearly 6-4 with long arms and a narrow, angular build at 226 pounds, Epps has the rare skeleton that supports a 20-25 pound addition without sacrificing range — 247's staff had him at 235 before his junior year, suggesting the weight already fluctuates with how he's being used. That length gives him tackle radius most off-ball backers don't have; he closes distance the last two yards with reach rather than needing perfect angles. Current mass is the honest limitation: at 226 he is not yet a two-gap edge setter against SEC tight ends and pulling guards, and he can be moved when he takes on blocks square. His athletic profile — gap-closing burst, sideline speed confirmed by 13 hurries and 12 TFLs as a junior, plus enough ball skills to catch 4 touchdowns on offense — is that of a plus-athlete linebacker rather than a straight-line pass rusher.

Play Style

A perimeter destroyer who plays downhill only after he's identified the ball. Epps's tape is built on lateral flow — he beats offensive tackles and tight ends to the edge and makes tackles outside the numbers that most linebackers don't get to. Aligned on the line he wins with first-step quickness and length rather than power or hand technique, generating pressure that shows up in the hurry column more than the sack column. In coverage he is comfortable carrying tight ends and matching backs out of the backfield, which is why 247 keeps him at LB rather than sliding him to EDGE despite the body type. His current weakness on film is congestion: when the play develops inside and he has to take on and defeat a block in a phone booth, he gets absorbed. He also occasionally over-runs the ball chasing his own speed, a byproduct of the diagnosis issue.

Strengths

• Elite range in pursuit. 247 director of scouting Andrew Ivins describes him as excelling 'in chase mode with gap-closing burst as he runs the cleat line and makes stops out by the numbers' — his 12 TFLs as a junior came disproportionately from backside and perimeter chase, not from stacked-and-shed play at the point of attack.
• Finishing power as a tackler. Ivins notes he is 'forceful as a tackler and will get larger ball carriers on the ground.' The 72-tackle junior season with minimal missed-tackle volume on film reflects a player who wraps and drives rather than diving at ankles, which is uncommon at 226 pounds.
• Positional versatility with real evidence behind it. Ivins calls him a 'multidimensional linebacker that should offer on and off-ball flex at the next level.' He rushed, dropped, and played 8 offensive snaps' worth of receiver production (121 yards, 4 TDs) — the ball skills and hip fluidity that produced 15 career pass breakups are legitimate coverage traits, not projection.

Areas to Improve

• Pass-rush conversion. Thirteen quarterback hurries against only 3 sacks as a junior is a stark ratio — he consistently wins the corner or the edge and then fails to finish. He needs a counter off his speed rush (long-arm, inside spin) and better closing technique through the quarterback's frame. His 14 career sacks came heavily from earlier seasons against lesser competition.
• Read-and-diagnose speed and play strength at the point of attack. 247's evaluation explicitly flags that he should continue improving his diagnosis. Right now he plays fast when he's flowing and hesitant when he has to process pullers, zone-read mesh, and misdirection. Paired with a frame that needs 20-plus pounds, this is the whole gap between rotational freshman and starter.

College Projection

Expect a redshirt or heavy special-teams role as a true freshman while Oklahoma's strength staff answers the weight question — this is a player who arrives needing a full offseason of mass without losing range. Realistic timeline: rotational third-down and passing-situation defender by year two, where he can rush from a wide alignment on obvious passing downs and cover a tight end on the rest, then a full-time starter by year three once he's in the 245-250 range and processing at SEC speed. Oklahoma will likely try him at both spots before committing; the outcome hinges on whether the added weight preserves his change-of-direction. If it does, he's an off-ball starter; if he gets stiff, he's a stand-up edge.

NFL Outlook

A legitimate Day 2 projection if the development curve holds. Top-10 positional prospects who bring length, coverage ability, and finishing tackle power are exactly the profile the modern NFL pays for at off-ball linebacker, and the flex to rush raises the ceiling further. The realistic range is a second-to-fourth round outcome; the path to Round 1 runs through the pass-rush conversion problem — a player this long who learns to finish at 250 pounds becomes a different evaluation entirely. Downside risk is a tweener outcome: not stout enough to hold the edge, not instinctive enough to play every down inside, which caps him as a sub-package and special-teams player. Given a .9531 composite and a top-120 national ranking, the baseline expectation is a multi-year SEC starter with a draftable grade.

Best Fit

A multiple-front defense that uses hybrid second-level bodies rather than one that asks him to be a true 4-3 MIKE. He is maximized in an odd-front or nickel-heavy scheme that lets him play a walked-up SAM/JACK role — rushing from wide alignments on passing downs, dropping into the flat and matching tight ends on early downs, and running the alley in run support. Oklahoma's staff has a track record with exactly this archetype, and their defensive structure gives him a landing spot at either level without forcing an early positional commitment. He should avoid any program that would immediately add 30 pounds and stand him up as a full-time hand-in-the-dirt end; that trades away his best trait — range — for one he hasn't yet developed.